Part 12 (1/2)

The armed men that the constable had left on the boat rushed on board.

The crew of the Victoria, stood aghast. They saw the power of the Admiral's mind.

Magellan brought his s.h.i.+p alongside the Victoria.

He led his armed crew on board the Victoria, and halted before a terrible scene. Mendoza had been stabbed by the constable, and the crew of the Victoria plead for mercy, and promised to be loyal to the Admiral.

In this hour of tragedy and terror Magellan bore his s.h.i.+p around to Queixada's, and made the officers and crew of the Concepcion his prisoners. The leaders of the mutiny were executed. It was a necessity.

Magellan caused also the sentence he had imposed on the inspector and his accomplice to be carried out here.

Carthagena and Sanches were led from their prison to the sh.o.r.e.

As the sails were being lifted to depart, they were marooned--left with some provisions, among which were some bottles of wine, on the desert sh.o.r.e.

There were hearts that pitied them as the s.h.i.+ps sailed away. There was _one_ who plotted to rescue them. It was Gormez.

They left them some biscuits with the bottles of wine.

”It is the last bread they will ever eat,” said their companions.

”And the last wine that they will ever drink,” said a loyal priest on board.

But there was one on board that shook his head.

If he could have his will the two would eat bread and drink wine again in the convents of beautiful Seville.

The execution of the disloyal Spaniards again awakened the jealousy of Gormez. He probably began to plan about this time to separate the Antonio from the expedition, and lead her back to Spain. His heart was with the inspector and friar far away on the desolate sh.o.r.e.

The s.h.i.+ps sailed away, and the marooned priests saw them disappear.

”They were cast aside for opposing a madman,” reasoned Gormez. ”Magellan is no fit leader of an expedition. If I had full command of the Antonio, I would rescue the inspector, if I were to find him alive.”

But he could not take the Antonio back while Mesquita, Magellan's loyal cousin, was in command. Had he breathed a breath of disloyalty in the presence of this Portuguese, he might have himself been deposed from his position and marooned, as had been the inspector and the friar.

A dark plot began to form in the pilot's mind. If he could incite the crew against Mesquita in some hour of peril, he might cause him to be imprisoned on his own s.h.i.+p, and then he could succeed to the command, and take the Antonio back to Spain.

And he would also endeavor to rescue the inspector and the friend of the inspector who had been marooned. If he could rescue them and take them back with him to Spain, they would be powerful witnesses for him against Magellan.

Gormez now waited his opportunity. A jealous man seeks for a principle of life to ease his conscience and justify evil deeds. Gormez had two principles to sustain him in his disloyalty. The one was that he could lead a better expedition, and the other the merciful rescue of his two companions who had been marooned for the same opinions that he had from the first carried in his heart. So calling treachery, loyalty and sympathy, he awaited an hour favorable to his plan.

If he could return to Spain he would offer his services to Portugal or to Spain to lead an expedition to the Spice Islands that should be conducted in some more promising way than by the winter seas.

As the s.h.i.+ps sailed on into the clouds and cold, the sailors were filled with apprehension. But the farol still shone at night like a star in the changing atmosphere. They had expected that the extremity of South America would point West, but this was not the case. Whither were they tending?

It was the middle of October. The water grew colder and the land became more desolate. Suddenly a bay appeared and the continent seemed to part.

The sea poured its tides to the East amid towering mountains, and a strait appeared, which now bears the name of Magellan.

The soul of the Admiral thrilled. It was the fulfillment of his visions.